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azpi28

By azpi28
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7 hours ago, erskblue said:

Torino got a bit of a doing at home by Napoli today. Napoli won 4-0.

Juventus I think might get a win over them, especially since they are now so far ahead, their top 4 push is starting to build momentum and you wouldn’t bet against Roma & Milan continuing to drop points. 

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erskblue

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Naples: A city on the brink as Napoli close in on first title in 33 years

By Alex Bysouth. BBC Sport in Naples.    www.bbc.co.uk

6 April 2023

Sports Insight Banner Spanish Quarter A shield, symbolising the Scudetto, has been painted on steps in Naples' Quartieri Spagnoli

Naples is a city on the brink. You can see it, hear it, feel it. It's in the eyes and the smiles, the playful chatter and swaggering strides. Neapolitans can taste it, they're living every moment of it. 

Napoli are 16 points clear in Serie A and cantering towards a first title since 1990. Flags hailing what will be the club's third championship hang from balconies, banners with "100% campione" ripple in the breeze. Even the usually superstitious Neapolitans can't help but acknowledge this is their year.

Clinch the Scudetto too early and some fear the city won't cope with a party 33 years in the making. Win the Champions League too? Well, the "skies will fall," beams Daniele 'Decibel' Bellini. "It's magical."

Provisions are in place for a party on 4 June - the final day of the season - but Napoli's wait for a first championship since Diego Maradona strolled these narrow streets could end in the next few weeks.

Fifteen points from their final 10 games will make it certain, even if second-placed Lazio win all of theirs.

In the Quartieri Spagnoli, throughout Naples' historic centre, up to Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in Fuorigrotta and beyond, the streets are decked with blue and white festoons.

Buildings and steps have been painted the same hues.

Life-size cutouts of the current squad stand in one piazza, club shirts and player posters are pegged to washing lines in alleyways and youngsters queue for half a block to buy Napoli-coloured panino at popular sandwich shop Con Mollica o Senza.

Hotel rooms for the next couple of months have nearly all gone. Expats wanting to celebrate, football fans intrigued by Napoli's story and visitors unexpectedly caught up in this historic moment are descending on the city. Sporting success coincides with a tourist boom.

"Naples is experiencing a moment of self-recognition and rediscovery of its greatness," says author Angelo Forgione.

When Maradona inspired Napoli to a first Scudetto in 1987, fans placed a banner outside the city's largest cemetery proclaiming: "You don't know what you missed." Now, a generation too young to remember such glory are living it themselves.

"I was six months old in 1990 but I grew up watching VHS of Diego Maradona," says Vincenzo Credendino, from CalcioNapoli24 TV. "Now this Scudetto is like reconnecting with that time."

Tributes to Luciano Spalletti's players intertwine with endless Maradona artwork. He is everywhere in Naples' charmingly gritty and dizzyingly chaotic labyrinth of streets - bar windows, bumper stickers, on billboards and etched across crumbling walls in giant murals.

At Bar Nilo, a strand of Maradona's hair rotates as part of a shrine to the Argentine. In an underground museum the belongings acquired by his maid's son when Maradona left the city are on display.

"Maradona is like God here," says 23-year-old fan Maria Roberta De Iesu. "He gave people hope. Neapolitans see themselves in Maradona."

Maradona mural This mural in Quartieri Spagnoli became a shrine to Diego Maradona following his death in 2020

When Maradona arrived for a world record fee from Barcelona in July 1984, the city was still on its knees from an earthquake that killed almost 2,500 people four years earlier. Feuds between the Camorra, the region's mafia, were as bitter as ever, unemployment was huge and the Bank of Naples was facing bankruptcy.

"Yet in a Naples on the bottom, Napoli, with the help of politics, managed to buy the strongest and most expensive footballer in the world and touch the sky," adds Forgione. 

Then president Corrado Ferlaino had to lean on the city's mayor to help finance the deal, fans offered contributions to help get it over the line, anything to get Maradona.

'El Pibe de Oro' was everything to Naples, and Naples was everything to him. The city resonated with its Golden Boy not just because he inspired their club to two Serie A titles and a Uefa Cup but because they recognised him.

He was anti-establishment, he echoed their principles and shouldered their concerns.

"Maradona was really good with his tongue, his mouth, his attitude," explains Credendino. "He understood how to get the heart of the Neapolitan people, he touched the right chords."

Maradona, despite his relationship with the Neapolitan mafia, brought "justice to the people" after struggles against the north that date back more than a century to the unification of Italy, says culture expert Francesco Carignani.

"He had many problems in his life but in Naples we only remember him for the joy," adds fan Paolo Cimmino. "We connect him as a man to a conqueror - the south won versus the north."

No club south of Rome has won Serie A since the Napoli of Maradona, Careca, Ciro Ferrara and a young Gianfranco Zola in 1990, and Neapolitans still endure hostile taunts from their northern rivals about crime, poverty, cholera outbreaks and calls for Mount Vesuvius to erupt over the city.

People here "are first of all Neapolitans and then Italian", explains Bellini, Napoli's iconic stadium announcer. They have their own language, culture and history.

Naples was once a thriving European capital, it remains a city of intriguing architecture, Caravaggio, pizza. Most of all, there is an intensity to life in Campania.

"Southern people in Italy, they live everything with love, with so much emotion, in different ways to the north," adds Cimmino. 

Napoli had to fall before they could rise again. Financial decline, relegation and bankruptcy followed the glory years but the fans remained. More than 50,000 attended a game in Serie C in 2004-05.

"For our city soccer is so important," explains journalist Elena Lopresti. "It is not only football, it is a social instrument, a tool to develop us as a society."

Film producer Aurelio de Laurentiis seized an opportunity to purchase the club in 2004 and restore top-flight and European football to Napoli, the fourth-most well-supported club in Italy after Juventus, Milan and Inter, but one whose fanbase is concentrated in the region, rather than spread "from the Alps to Sicily" as Forgione says of the big three.

"De Laurentiis had a parachute," adds Credendino. "It was the love of the people, always ready to go to the stadium, always ready to support the team."

Naples, Forgione explains, is a rare European metropolis represented by a single club. "Napoli's victory is the victory of identity, of those who live it completely," he adds.

"In Naples, football is everything," says Cimmino. "It is joy, it is love, it is fun, it is sadness. It is a way to escape from the daily problems, a way to have fun with the people and party, and this period is happiness."

Spanish Quarter Cardboard cutouts of Napoli players stand in a piazza in Naples

The De Laurentiis era has been characterised by astute recruitment - Edinson Cavani, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Jorginho, Gonzalo Higuain - profitable sales, and falling short in the title race.

It was only last summer, after another championship bid slipped away, that ultras promised to return boss Spalletti's stolen Fiat Panda on the condition he left the club.

"Now he deserves a Ferrari, not a Panda," laughs journalist Credendino. 

Spalletti is not from Naples, but he shares that Neapolitan passion. After being sacked by Inter, he spent two years on his farm in Tuscany before taking on the Napoli job. Now he lives by the training ground working relentlessly to deliver the Scudetto.

Maradona was the face of Napoli's previous triumph but this time unfamiliar heroes have emerged - cleverly acquired by sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli and fuelled by Spalletti's coaching.

"Giuntoli is the man of this miracle," says Credendino, despite some fans fretting when the club sold high-profile stars Kalidou Koulibaly, Lorenzo Insigne and Dries Mertens last year.

"Giuntoli discovered Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, he discovered Victor Osimhen, Kim Min-jae," adds Cimmino. "Spalletti makes this talent, makes this character. He can find the right keys to get the best of all the players. [Slovak midfielder Stanislav] Lobotka now looks like Iniesta, he looks like Xavi."

On a sold-out match day against Milan, outside the stadium that bears Maradona's name - an amphitheatre worthy of the Greeks who founded Neapolis, the "new city" - kids sport the mask of top scorer Osimhen and Georgian flags fly for irrepressible winger Kvaratskhelia. 

There are a sprinkling of Boca and Argentina jerseys too, and, if there is a likeness to Maradona in this team, it is 22-year-old Kvaratskhelia. Signed from Dinamo Batumi last summer, he's aptly been dubbed "Kvaradona", but Cimmino sees him like Gianluigi Lentini at Torino or Kaka during his Milan years.

"He is incredibly unpredictable in the field," adds Credendino. "But if Maradona was a demigod, Kvaratskhelia is the Pope. He has a totally different attitude, a totally different personality."

Kvaratskhelia plays with a rugged urgency, socks around his ankles, calves exposed. He cavorts, he conjures. But against Milan on Sunday, without 21-goal forward Osimhen - a man Spalletti calls a "dragon with two heads" - he could not stop a vacant and disjointed Napoli sliding to a jarring 4-0 defeat.

Milan were supposed to graciously pass on the champions' baton. Instead they slapped down a reminder the upcoming Champions League quarter-final between the two - the first leg is on Wednesday - should not be taken for granted.

Neapolitans' relationship with their club is complex. Rather than the result, the fallout was about wider issues. Scuffles broke out between different sets of ultras in Curva B over how to protest against De Laurentiis' ticket prices and rules over which flags or banners they can bring into the ground.

"De Laurentiis has a really complicated relationship with the city because the supporters don't like the power, and he represented the power," explains Carignani.

"But we have to say that this victory is great for him because he is a great businessman, he put passion in the city but also his entrepreneurship view in managing the team and that has made the difference."

In the next few weeks, supporters and the board will both celebrate Napoli's first title in more than three decades. The fans have been asking the city's patron saint San Gennaro for this moment, they have called on the spirit of Maradona. Residents have been saving up in preparation for the mother of all celebrations. 

"We just feel this power, this emotion," says De Iesu. "It will be a great party all around the city, all the squares will be full of people."

"Now we are enjoying it," adds Carignani. "It was worth the wait."

Watch the full feature on what a first Scudetto in 33 years will mean to Naples on Football Focus on BBC One on Saturday, 15 April.

Flags and banners in Naples Banners celebrating Napoli's imminent Scudetto win hang in front of a San Gennaro mural in Napes Maradona Stadium Stadio San Paolo was renamed after Diego Maradona in December 2020
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erskblue

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Juventus' 15-point penalty for illicit transfer activity is reversed.

www.bbc.co.uk  20 April 2023.


Juventus' 15-point penalty over transfer dealings has been reversed with Italy's highest sporting court ordering the case to be re-examined.

Juve were punished in Janaury after being found guilty of false accounting.

The club have now moved from seventh to third in Serie A, but could still be punished at a later date when a new hearing is held.

Tottenham director of football Fabio Paratici lost his appeal against a 30-month ban as part of the same case.

The former Juve sporting director was one of 11 directors at the club, either former or still in place at the time of the ruling, who were sanctioned.

He stepped back from his role Spurs when his ban was increased to be worldwide, at the same time as the north London club began searching for a replacement for former manager Antonio Conte.

Like Paratici, former president Andrea Agnelli, ex-chief executive Maurizio Arrivabene and sports director Federico Cherubini had their appeals rejected. 

Former player and director Pavel Nedved, Paolo Garimberti and Enrico Vellano were successful with their appeals.

Rather than the club being cleared, Juve's case will now return to the Italian Football Federation appeals court, the body which gave the initial punishment.

With eight games to go in the season, AC Milan have been knocked out of the Champions League places by Juve while Roma drop to fourth.

Why were Juventus docked 15 points?

The Old Lady were handed a points deduction after an investigation into the club's past transfer dealings spanning two years from 2019 to 2021 by Italian football's governing body (FIGC).

Juventus were accused of fixing their balance sheets by artificial gains of around 60m euros from club transfers, charges they were found guilty of by the FIGC's appeals court in January.

The club, however, denied any wrongdoing and took their case to a tribunal at the Olympic Committee, Italy's highest sporting court.

The tribunal did not rule on the merits of the case but instead examined the legal legitimacy of the punishments handed out by the FIGC to the club and directors.

Juventus were among several Serie A clubs acquitted of suspect transfer activity by an FIGC appeals court trial last year but the investigation into the club was reopened due to new evidence from a separate criminal probe into their finances.

The 15-point sanction was tougher than the nine-point deduction prosecutors had requested.

Who are the individuals involved?

Agnelli and the rest of the club's board, including former midfielder Nedved, stepped down in November while the investigation was taking place.

At the time, a statement said the resignations were "considered to be in the best social interest to recommend that Juventus equip itself with a new board of directors to address these issues".

The chairman had presided over the club for 13 years, during which time Juventus won nine successive Serie A titles and reached two Champions League finals.

But last year they made a £220m loss - a record for an Italian club. 

Agnelli and Arrivabene were banned from Italian football for two years, with Nedved receiving an eight-month suspension.

Cherubini and Paratici were suspended domestically for 16 months and two and a half years respectively.

Paratici left the club to become managing director at Tottenham before January's ruling but his suspension was extended worldwide by Fifa in March - a decision the 50-year-old is also appealing against.

Juventus are also facing an investigation from Uefa over potential breaches of its club licensing and financial fair play regulations, which was announced last month.

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On 22/04/2023 at 08:24, erskblue said:

As someone who has Torino as their favourite Italian team, I am ‘very disappointed’ (polite term) that Juventus have had their 15 points deduction overturned!
 

Cheers mate, Torino got a huge win in Rome yesterday!

 

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erskblue

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Napoli win Serie A for first time in 33 years to spark street party

www.bbc.co.uk

4 May 2023

The city of Naples was transformed into an epic street party. 

Roads were filled with people singing, dancing and hugging one another, while children played football around them. People jumped in fountains in jubilation, while others waved huge Napoli flags as they darted about on their scooters.

The reason? On Thursday, Napoli became the champions of Italy.

As soon as the final whistle was blown in their game at Udinese, with Napoli's 1-1 draw enough to clinch the Serie A title, hundreds of people crammed together in piazzas, singing of their joy. 

"We have one dream in our heart. For Naples to become champions again!" rang round the city, for that dream has now come true.

Napoli fans also watched the match via big screens at their own Stadio Diego Armando Maradona Many Napoli fans watched the match via big screens at their own Stadio Diego Armando Maradona

"I have been crying. This is a historic moment," Edoardo Nappa says.

The 13-year-old is part of a new generation too young to remember the glory days of Diego Maradona - the legendary maverick who delivered two Serie A titles to the city when he was Napoli captain.

"To be able to experience this, to live this myself for the first time… it's magical. It's a historic moment for Naples."

It wasn't only locals who were partying; people from all over Italy and countries including France, Spain and the UK travelled to Naples to soak up the spectacle. 

Naples lives and breathes football. The whole city has been decorated in readiness for the party: blue and white flags and festoons hang above the narrow streets. Life-size cardboard cutouts have popped up in the city centre. There are cakes, pastries, drinks, ice creams dedicated to the players. 

"It feels like the world has stopped here," says Amelia Bufi, a university student who travelled from Rome to celebrate the victory.

"This party is going to go on for at least a month. It's going to last through the summer. It's an amazing feeling: Neapolitans put love in everything they do, including football."

Edoardo Nappa and family Edoardo Nappa and family pictured next to tributes to former Napoli player Diego Maradona

A party planned for three decades

This is a party 33 years in the making. The last time Napoli won the Serie A title was 1990 - when Maradona was captain.

The Argentine's influence can still be felt in the city. His face is painted on bar windows, bumper stickers and billboards. A giant mural of him towers above a shrine dedicated to him. And above it is a sign that says 'Dios' - the Spanish word for God.

Many have this week been gathering around his shrine to lay flowers and light candles. Some have had tears in their eyes.

For Neapolitans, football is almost a religious experience.

"It goes even beyond religion," says Bufi. "What we are doing here is like a ritual. We are praying for Diego Maradona, as if he were a saint. It's crazy and I love it."

Maradona, who died in 2020, gave Neapolitans a great sense of belonging. 

"He was a man that was full of vices but at the same time poetic and majestic in what he did best," says European football expert Mina Rzouki.

"And that is very much something that resonates with Neapolitans."

Fireworks in Naples Fireworks lit the night sky in Naples as supporters celebrated their team's long-awaited league title

Memories of glory days were fading

After Maradona delivered his second title for Napoli more than three decades ago, the team could not sustain the success. They had financial struggles, went bankrupt and were demoted to Serie C - the lowest league of the professional divisions.

The turning point came in 2004: film producer Aurelio de Laurentiis bought the club.

"He created a team that is wonderful to watch," Rzouki says.

"He knew he could depend on the unconditional love of an entire city, on a fan base that is so devoted. So under him, Napoli grew."

And yet, Napoli couldn't replicate the success of 1990 and win the title.

"The deep pressure of playing in a city that lives football to a degree that is so unimaginable… it can be a lot. It can become suffocating to be in a city that is so devoted to their success," says Rzouki.

Napoli fans celebrate in Naples

Revenge of the underdogs

This win is about so much more than football. It's a symbol of the inequality between Italy's wealthy north and the poorer south. 

"Young Neapolitans are often forced to emigrate to northern Italy in search of a job and a better life," says Napoli Today journalist Franco Romano.

"And so for them, winning the league is a form of social revenge against the superpowers of the north."

"To win the league anywhere south of Rome is like winning 10 trophies in Milan or Turin," says another fan, Enrico.

Neapolitans still endure hostile taunts from their northern rivals about crime, poverty and even cholera outbreaks.

"If you were born in Naples, football is part of your blood," says Gaetano, who is dressed head-to-toe in football kit. "Our blood is [Napoli] blue, it's not red."

One of the thousands of Neapolitans who has moved to Milan to find work, he travelled to Naples with his whole family to experience this moment. He wants to share his passion for football with them.

"It's something that comes from the heart. I've been waiting 33 years for this win. I am full of emotion, of passion, of faith… words cannot explain what I'm feeling."

Napoli fans celebrate in Naples

A consecration of Naples

When Naples won the league thanks to Maradona, the city had been destroyed by a violent earthquake a few years previously.

"The city was struggling. Poverty was everywhere," says Massimo Romano.

"The win with Maradona represented a rebirth for Naples after a time of extreme difficulty."

But things are very different now.

"Naples still has a lot of problems, but it's become a European city with lots of tourists, one that is well known outside of Italy," adds Romano.

For a city that is so devoted to its football team, this is a day that will be cherished for years to come.

"Today's victory represents the consecration to a success that Naples has been experiencing for several years."

A Napoli fan cries with joy after his team win Serie A There were happy tears in Naples after Napoli ended their long wait for a league title
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